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Effects of digital use on trust in political institutions among ethnic minority and hegemonic group -A case study
Abstract
The current study was based on data from a nationwide Annual Social Survey to investigate the correlation between types of Internet usage (seeking information, e-government use, e-mail, social media and peer-to-peer Internet telephony) and trust in political institutions in Israel's Jewish majority and Arab minority. Trust in government, parliament, and political parties was found to be significantly higher among Jews than Arabs. Our findings show that first level digital divide reflected in Internet use vs non-use does not correlate with political trust. Among Internet users we found different patterns of association between digital uses and trust in political institutions, which may presumably be explained by different group status. E-government use and social media use were positively correlated with political trust only among Jews. Seeking information and e-mail use were negatively associated with trust in political institutions only among Arabs. Peer-to-peer Internet telephony was negatively correlated with trust in government among both groups. Our important finding is that in spite of the processes of digitization, the effects of digital use on political trust are still relatively marginal. In both groups, the primary predictor of political trust is attitudes toward the functioning of different public institutions.
... Today, the Israeli government's explicit aim has been to position Israel at the centre of innovation and technology throughout its sectors. Since the country's first ICT sector developments in the 1970s, the government has laid a solid foundation to ensure that private entities see the need to invest heavily in ICT by providing and building much-needed human capital (Lissitsa, 2021). Many other multinational companies share significant research spending in the Israeli industry. ...
... These include famous and well-known cooperation such as IBM, Cisco, Google, Phillips, Motorola, Apple, and many others that brought colossal sums of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and set up research centres across Israel to utilize local talents. As an integral societal aspect today, ICT offers transformative and reformative possibilities within public sector administration (Lissitsa, 2021). By incorporating relevant technologies, efficient service delivery, transparency and accountability, and more improved administrative processes are expected to emerge. ...
... After gathering insights from teachers, it has surfaced that there is a moderate-to-high degree of ICT integration being administered by these educators within their schools. Table below encapsulates vital information, including the mean score, which is an impressive 3.73 out of the total score range (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). The data set also highlights additional metrics, such as standard deviation and mean, that pertain to effective utilization and deployment strategies for leveraging technology. ...
This research paper investigates the readiness and integration of ICT in local authorities' administrative processes and service delivery. This is an important topic to explore, given the technological stalemate that is currently witnessed in the Israeli Arab localities. This has caused a significant hindrance to the successful fulfillment of public administrative functions in a rather "technologically advanced" country in the Middle East. Essentially, this research aims to review the incorporation of ICT in the Arab sector in relation to the articulation of the same in Jewish localities. To obtain these results, this study explores qualitative and quantitative research designs, interviews, and surveys with stakeholders and teachers in Arab schools. The results from this research will be used to examine the preparedness level of the Arab public sector in harnessing ICT potential. It also assesses the challenges the local authorities face in leveraging Israel's ICT potential by specifically focusing on the level of digital literacy Arab education sector. The data findings indicate a low-to-moderate degree of ICT integration among teachers, highlighting the importance of pedagogical knowledge and attitudes toward change in facilitating successful ICT implementation. Further, the study contributes to the understanding of ICT utilization in public sector administration and provides recommendations for overcoming obstacles and improving ICT practices in the Arab sector of Israel.
... Arab citizens tend to evaluate and trust public, state and social institutions to a lower extent than Jews [36][37][38], demonstrating a similar behavior to that of ethnic minorities in other countries [39]. This is true in regards to satisfaction with Israel police and its perceived legitimacy [37], as well as trust in government, Knesset or political parties [36], with reversed figures in case of trust in healthcare system [38] as probably the only exception from this rule. ...
... Arab citizens tend to evaluate and trust public, state and social institutions to a lower extent than Jews [36][37][38], demonstrating a similar behavior to that of ethnic minorities in other countries [39]. This is true in regards to satisfaction with Israel police and its perceived legitimacy [37], as well as trust in government, Knesset or political parties [36], with reversed figures in case of trust in healthcare system [38] as probably the only exception from this rule. The origins of this lower evaluation are argued to situate in the institutionalized exclusionary and discriminatory policy experienced by Arab society as a whole and its members in particular [27]. ...
... However, Arab citizens were also found referring to institutions to a different extent. For example, Arab participants in study by Lissitsa [36] exhibited higher trust in government than in the political parties. In study by Pinchas-Mizrachi et al. [38]; the percentage of Arab participants who reported high level of trust in healthcare system was higher than the percentage of their counterparts who reported having high trust in juridical system. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the emergence of various stressors among people around the world. However, rare are the studies that investigate stressors by employing institution evaluations as their predictors in ethnic minorities. The goal of the current study was to examine the association between satisfaction with the efficiency of institutions' work on mitigation of the COVID-19 spread, and stressors - emotional responses to the pandemic: worry of the COVID-19 spread, and fear of being hurt by its spread. The study was conducted among Israeli Arab citizens (N = 697), who participated in an annual personal security index survey. Multinomial logistic regression was used for the multivariate analysis. The main finding suggests that satisfaction with efficiency of the emergency institutions performance was associated with a lower likelihood of being highly worried of COVID-19 spread, as well as with a lower likelihood of having a great fear of being hurt by its spread. Satisfaction with efficiency of societal institutions performance was associated only with lower likelihood of being moderately worried of the COVID-19 spread. The results imply that the institutions have an ability to reduce the stressors in population by means of efficient performance in mitigating the consequences of the pandemic. The results also imply that institutions differ in this ability. The main policy implication is that institutions, which efficiency satisfaction was unrelated to the stressors, should significantly improve such performance in order to reduce the magnitude of negative emotional responses in ethnic minorities.
... Economically, the Palestinian community in Israel predominantly resides in peripheral, socio-economically disadvantaged areas, setting it apart from the Jewish community. This disparity extends to the education sector, especially in terms of digital access (Lissitsa, 2021). The digital divide between Palestinian and Jewish communities in Israel is pronounced, both in terms of infrastructure and digital proficiency. ...
... Roughly one-third of the Palestinian community lacks internet access, and where it exists, the connectivity quality is often subpar. (Lissitsa, 2021) ...
This study examined the experiences of Palestinian parents (n=105) and teachers (n=99) for students with disabilities by the shift to distance Learning during Covid 19, in focusing on communication, student progress, support services, and stress levels. Participants answered a Likert scale questionnaire and three open questions. Findings revealed no significant differences between parents and teachers related to the examine parameters but it is indicated the gender as a significant factor in stress levels. Males, whether parents or teachers, reported less stress. Mothers expressed the least satisfaction with support services, contrasting with female teachers. This highlights possible disparities for mothers in accessing vital support during remote learning. Distance learning introduces distinct challenges, with both teachers and parents highlighting the need for proficiency in online platforms. Emphasizing tech-savviness is crucial in today's educational setting. Both groups stressed the importance of emotional support, extending this need to everyone involved. The conclusion underscores the importance of joint solutions tailored to the specific requirements of students, parents, and teachers.
... This phenomenon presents the danger that critical issues will get filtered, leaving people unexposed to views different from their own [3]. Thus, online users will be operating under misperceptions shaped by their "echo chamber", in which users are selectively served information based on personal information [4,5]. ...
... For the full analysis of all items, see Supplementary materials. 5 Participants responded on a 7-point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7) to the statement "Most of my friends agree with me on this topic". ...
Filter Bubbles, exacerbated by use of digital platforms, have accelerated opinion polarization. This research builds on calls for interventions aimed at preventing or mitigating polarization. This research assesses the extent that an online digital platform, intentionally displaying two sides of an argument with methodology designed to “open minds” and aid readers willingness to consider an opposing view. This “open mindedness” can potentially penetrate online filter bubbles, alleviate polarization and promote social change in an era of exponential growth of discourse via digital platforms.
Utilizing “The Perspective” digital platform, 400 respondents were divided into five distinct groups varying in number of articles reading material related to “Black Lives Matter” (BLM). Results indicate that those reading five articles, either related or unrelated to race, were significantly more open-minded towards BLM than the control group. Those who read five race-related articles also showed significantly reduced levels of holding a hardliner opinion towards BLM than control.
... This phenomenon presents the danger that critical issues will get filtered, leaving people unexposed to views different from their own [3]. Thus, online users will be operating under misperceptions shaped by their "echo chamber", in which users are selectively served information based on personal information [4,5]. ...
... For the full analysis of all items, see Supplementary materials. 5 Participants responded on a 7-point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7) to the statement "Most of my friends agree with me on this topic". ...
... Другие исследовали влияние электронного правительства, в частности, как интернет-услуги общественного обслуживания влияют на доверие к правительству [37]. Кроме того, некоторые исследователи подошли к этой проблеме, сосредоточившись на этнических меньшинствах и доминирующих группах [38], [39]. ...
The ability of governments to maintain power significantly relies on their capacity to manage information flow to the public. While these governments have traditionally controlled conventional media, the rise of social media has presented new challenges. This study uses representative survey data to examine how different social media platforms, specifically Facebook and VKontakte, influence public trust in central and local government in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia. Research has shown that in these contexts, Facebook tends to carry counter-government messaging, whereas the Russian platform VKontakte disseminates pro-government content. This divergence leads to differing relationships between trust in government based on platform usage. Our results show that Facebook usage is negatively associated with trust in central and local government in these countries, while VKontakte usage generally has the opposite effect. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the nuanced roles that social media platforms play in shaping political attitudes and trust in government in former Soviet countries.
... In addition, the data used in innovation have the potential to be misused if data security is weak. Such disadvantages diminish social trust (Lissitsa, 2021) and lead to the nonfulfillment of coproduction in public services (Paletti, 2016). The five elements of the dark side of innovation that emerged in the SAMPADE innovation case are certainly in line with the statement explained by Meijer and Thaens (2021). ...
Purpose
In recent years, public sector innovation practices have continuously penetrated central and regional governments. Observations show that many new innovation ideas are abandoned after initial implementation. Therefore, this study aims to examine the dark side of local public sector innovation through the case of the Mobile Application System of Local Tax (SAMPADE) innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the concept of the dark side of public sector innovation with a focus on SAMPADE innovation. Qualitative study cases were used, and empirical data were collected from semistructured interviews and observations. Secondary data were collected from published primary study sources, including peer-reviewed journals, case studies, government newsletters, online newspapers and books.
Findings
Referring to local findings, this study noted the weaknesses of public sector innovation caused by the failure of policymakers to consider any negative effects.
Research limitations/implications
This study only focuses on the dark side of one example of public service innovation. The results or other conclusions may vary depending on the unfavorable phenomena of public sector innovation.
Originality/value
The dark side of public sector innovation is a theme that many scholars have not analyzed. This study will contribute to the discourse, particularly in the context of local governance and developing countries.
... According to Adekoya, Agbetunde and Lawal (2022) trust is the currency of exchange between the government and the taxpayers, between the resources providers and resources managers, and between the leaders and the led. It is the consequential view of fairness, credibility, competency and trustworthy to achieve confidence in government and its institutions (Lissitsa, 2021). Furthermore, Adekoya et al., (2022); Citrin and Stoker, (2018) reported that citizens responses to tax payment is a function of political trust they have in government and its institutions. ...
Globally, Voluntary Tax Compliance (VTC) behaviour level has become a major concern to policy makers, government and tax consultants. Constant loss of tax revenue due to bad governance, mistrust, or misrule are perceived to have adversely affected state economic growth, financial viability and infrastructural development. Many researches have been conducted on VTC behaviour, but not many considered the effect of Good Governance (GG) in their study. This study examined the probable influence of GG on taxpayers VTC behaviour in Lagos state, Nigeria. The study employed survey research design and random sampling techniques. Seven hundred and fifty questionnaire were administered for data gathering while 82.8% response rate was achieved. The study employed descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the data at 5% level of significance. The study shows that GG positively influenced VTC among individual taxpayers in Lagos state, Nigeria (Adj. R 2 =0.101, F(4, 619)=18.35, p=0.000). There was evidence that trust in government, transparency and rule of law have significant relationship with VTC behaviour in Lagos state, Nigeria while accountability has insignificant relationship with VTC behaviour. The study concluded that GG influenced individual VTC behaviour in Lagos state, Nigeria. Therefore, the mechanism for GG should be entrenched to reduce revenue loss. Also government should provide quality service with timely rendering of government account for citizens informed decision. Tax law should be simple, fair, and unambiguous. Above all, tax revenue should be invested on public goods of utmost importance while tax payment culture should be institutionalized.
... The finding on the role of trust in the police should be also seen in a local context. Compared to members of Jewish population, member of Arab population in Israel tends to demonstrate lower level of trust in many societal institutions (Lissitsa 2021;Pinchas-Mizrachi et al. 2020) and specifically in the police (Mentovich et al. 2020). Therefore, the findings may serve as a justification for sustained strengthening of the relationship between Israel Police and Arab society in the country which would result in an increase in civic participation with respect to a fight against locality violence in this segment of the Israeli population. ...
This study examined factors that were assumed to associate with consideration of two strategies in response to locality violence in ethnic minority population—intention to migrate away from the locality and readiness to participate in a fight against locality violence—through the lens of interactionist theory. Data were obtained from the Personal and Community Security Index Survey conducted among the Arab citizens of Israel in 2019 (N = 693). The data were analysed using logistic and multinomial regression models. The results showed that greater intention to migrate due to violence was associated with the perception of increase in the level of locality violence compared to the year before, greater extent of prior victimization, fear of victimization, and sense of threat in locality settings. In contrast, greater readiness to participate in a fight against violence was mainly associated with lower fear of victimization and a high trust in the police. The results mostly support the interactionist approach. They suggest that violence coping strategies in ethnic minorities are explained by almost totally different factors. Policymakers should develop long-term plans to prevent the mass migration due to violence in ethnic minority localities by increasing personal safety, mitigating the levels of violence and increasing institutional trust for cooperation with the police in fighting against locality violence.
... Trust in government, or interchangeably termed, political trust (Zmerli & van der Meer, 2017), refers to citizens' attitudes regarding the performance and intentions of political actors and institutions, and their consequential confidence in these actors to fairly achieve optimal outcomes (Davies et al., 2021;Levi & Stoker, 2000;Lissitsa, 2021;A. H. Miller, 1974;Norris, 1999;Yap, 2019). ...
Trust in government is considered a prominent factor for enhancing public compliance with government policies and instructions. The Coronavirus pandemic demonstrates the crucial role public compliance with governmentally issued health guidelines has in mitigating the pandemic. However, the mechanism explaining the trust-compliance association, particularly in regard to health-behavior compliance, is unclear. This article develops a new theoretical model, the Mediated Trust Model (MTM), for explaining the relationship between trust in government and public compliance with health instructions. The model extends the classic Health Belief Model for predicting health behavior by claiming that the perceptions regarding the instructions' costs, benefits and one's ability to perform them are affected by trust in government and mediate the trust-compliance association. The MTM was tested in four cross-sectional studies performed during the first 20 months of the Coronavirus pandemic in Israel on 3732 participants, for various health instructions. Implications for public health literature, policy compliance theory and policy makers are discussed.
... Historically, the concept of trust is multidimensional (Southwell et al., 2021), and it has been a key concept in sociology, psychology, and political science. Trust involves a variety of human activities and plays a significant role in understanding human behavior, social cognition, and interpersonal relationships, as well as reducing the complexity people face (Cvetkovich & Löfstedt, 1999;Cvetkovich & Winter, 2003;Lissitsa, 2021;Siegrist & Cvetkovich, 2000). As for political trust, it is defined as citizens' appreciation and confidence in political institutions (e.g., local governments, central governments or civil service), which is based on citizens' belief assessment on whether government or political system can achieve their expected goals (Fairbrother et al., 2019;Hetherington, 1998;Hutchison, 2011;Lindstrom & Mohseni, 2009). ...
Environmental protection is regarded as an important component of contemporary governmental affairs, thus partly determining people’s attitude towards the performance of the authorities. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of Internet use on the trust cost of environmental risk to government. By employing the Chinese Social Survey in 2017, this study estimates a mediating effect model to investigate the relationship between Internet use, environmental risk perception, and people’s trust in government. The results reveal that Internet use has a significant and positive impact on individuals’ environmental risk perception, which would further indirectly lead to a decline in their trust in government. In addition, this study suggests the effect of Internet use on the political cost of environmental risk varies depending on people’s purpose of using the Internet and their attitudes toward online information. The findings address several environmental governance issues in the digital era, e.g., the effect of Internet technology on environmental risk management and people’s attitudes toward the performance of the environmental protection sector.
... At any given time, the Internet reflects an infinite number of opinions, voices, theories, angles and "fake news (Apuke and Omer, 2020)." As social network use frequency increases and users are increasingly exposed to hyperpluralism, their trust in government declines (Im et al., 2014;Chen and Sun, 2019;Lissitsa, 2021;Zhu et al., 2020). All these social media phenomena are observed during the COVID pandemic (Schild et al., 2020;Thelwall and Thelwall, 2020a;Zarei et al., 2020;Li et al., 2020;Stella et al., 2020). ...
Purpose
This study examined the association between media consumers' attitudes toward COVID-19-related content on mainstream, on-demand and social media and trust in the government's ability to handle the pandemic crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on an online survey of a representative sample of 1,005 Israelis aged 18 and over and focused on consumers' perceptions of media contents as a source of information, social solidarity, criticism and anxiety.
Findings
Findings indicate that mainstream media were the primary source of pandemic information. A positive association was found between perceptions of mainstream media as a source of criticism and trust in government's actions. This association was negative regarding social and on-demand media. The more mainstream media contents were perceived as anxiety evoking, the lower participants' trust in government's actions. A positive association was found between perceptions that social media encouraged social solidarity and trust in governmental action.
Practical implications
Policymakers should take into consideration that various media operate synergistically to continually construct reality.
Originality/value
This study focuses on consumers' perceptions of COVID-related media contents, which are especially important in the current era of media outlet proliferation, distribution and impact on the government. The unique contribution is in the integrated application of media malaise theory, virtuous circle theory and echo chamber theory to explain the correlation between media consumption and public trust during a global crisis in the era of diverse media outlets.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0299 .
... For its part, research in the field of computer-human interaction and human behavior generally considers full-fledged models of "digital voting" as a possible development of Internet voting (e. g., [Vlachokyriakos et al., 2014]. Worth mentioning, despite the digitization processes, the impact of digital technologies on political trust remains relatively insignificant [Lissitsa, 2021]. This, once again, actualizes research of the trust in Internet voting research, especially in a non-Western political context, as technology adoption theories tend to be Western-centric. ...
What is the connection between Russian citizens' perception of Internet voting and the context of its top down adoption with their readiness to use it? To investigate this question, we use Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to account for both observed and latent indicators of technology adoption and their linkage with the Internet voting use intent. The authors use survey evidence from VCIOM (2020) and a national survey of Internet users conducted by Online Marketing Intelligence (OMI) company in 2021. This study provides some support to the application of theoretical expectations formulated in the context of Western democracies to the Russian population's voting technology attitudes. The findings indicate that the use of the Internet is not a robust measure of technology acceptance anymore, and a more nuanced approach to the experiences of Internet usage is needed. Internet users appear to be more concerned about privacy, the possibility of fraud, and external interference than the respondents drawn from the overall population. The authors suggest that it is due to acceptance of risks seeming inevitable and to bigger digital literacy and therefore awareness about the risks posed by voting online.
Acknowledgments. The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their astute observations and criticism. For their helpful comments, we thank our senior colleagues at HSE University: A. S. Akhremenko, K. L. Marquardt, and M. G. Mironyuk.
Purpose
This study explores how digital information consumption and perceptions of corruption affect trust in government, shaped by country-level democratic context. We argue that in less democratic countries, the Internet increases access to political corruption news, impacting trust in government.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) principles (liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian), we analyze digital information consumption in 128 countries with Gallup data.
Findings
Participatory democracy strongly moderates the negative relationship between digital consumption and trust, especially in moderate democracies with high perceived corruption.
Social implications
Digital information’s effect on trust depends on government type and existing confidence levels.
Originality/value
This study uses data from 128 countries, enabling broad inferences about digital communication’s consequences. It also provides a novel examination of the relationship between digital information consumption, perceived corruption and attitudes towards government.
The goal of this study was to test the link between satisfaction with police functioning and the intention to report online victimization to the police while considering the place of birth. Performance theory served as the study's theoretical framework. Data were obtained from the 2020 Israel Social Survey. The sample comprised adult internet users who did not experience online victimization ( N = 3937). The results show a positive association between satisfaction with police performance and the likelihood of intending to report online victimization to this authority. However, this relationship was found to vary in accordance with immigration status. The association was more pronounced in the native-born and pre-1990 immigrant group compared with the post-1990 immigrant group. The results supported performance theory and suggest that the police should act in a more satisfying way to be considered as a primary address for individuals who fall victim to cybercrime, especially members of disadvantaged social groups.
Purpose: Trust in defense institutions is vital for national cohesion and national integration. For this purpose, the media dependency theory, video malaise theory, and virtuous circle theory are extended to propose a theoretical framework. Against this background, the objectives of the study are to explain public trust by analyzing the correlation of the uses of communications with the trust in the Pakistan Army. Design/Methodology: :To conduct this research quantitative approach is used, a purposive sample of (n = 269) university students is selected based on a sample collected from the universities in Lahore. The survey method was used to collect data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was used for applying the correlations and partial correlation tests. Findings: : Communications on Twitter and Facebook are creating distrust for the Pakistan Army, but the interpersonal forms of communication are creating trust for the Pakistan Army. The study finds major support for the media malaise theory. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Originality: This study painted a more comprehensive picture of the trust in the army in the evolving media environment in Pakistan.
This study aims to delve into the prevalence of single candidates participating in regional elections across various regions following the Constitutional Court Decision Number 100/PUU-XIII/2015. It explores how political party elites and oligarchs strategically maneuver to either maintain or acquire power. Specifically focusing on Boyolali Regency, this research employs a qualitative descriptive approach to uncover the underlying causes behind the emergence of a single candidate. The findings reveal the significant influence of hegemonic forces wielded by major political parties over smaller ones, orchestrated by oligarchs. Importantly, the study highlights that this hegemonic dominance is not driven by factors such as religious majority affiliations with political parties but rather emerges as a purely oligarchic endeavor aimed at controlling both the nomination process and victory outcomes of single candidates.
Scholars have repeatedly expressed concern about the societal consequences of negative media coverage toward public institutions and political actors. Yet, there remains a lack of systemic understanding about the determinants of this cynical attitude. To examine this issue, we combine aggregate data on political and economic performance with Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS) survey data on journalists’ institutional trust, watchdog and loyalty roles, editorial autonomy, professional experience, and news media ownership. Derived from interviews with 27, 657 journalists from 67 countries included in the second wave of the WJS (2012–2016), results show that democracy and press freedom are negatively correlated with journalists’ institutional trust. Quite notably, autonomous and watchdog journalists are less trusting than loyal journalists. The findings also suggest that corruption levels, annual economic growth, and type of media ownership are essential determinants in this regard.
¿Cuál es la asociación entre exposición a noticias y confianza política en Latinoamérica? ¿Hay diferencias según la libertad del sistema de medios y los niveles de polarización política? Para responder estas preguntas, este estudio analiza 10 países latinoamericanos incluidos en la última Encuesta Mundial de Valores (2017-2020) (N = 11.769), así como los índices de intervención gubernamental en el sistema informativo y polarización del proyecto V-Dem. Los resultados estadísticos muestran que, en general, la exposición a noticias en plataformas sociales se relaciona negativamente con la confianza en instituciones del gobierno y el Estado. Sin embargo, el contexto hace una diferencia significativa: a mayor libertad de información y polarización, más negativa es esta relación. En cambio, el uso de los medios tradicionales se asocia positivamente con la confianza política, independientemente de los factores contextuales. Estos hallazgos confirman la importancia de considerar el contexto mediático micro y macro en el análisis sobre confianza en América Latina.
In Web-4 technologies, Social media (SM) has emerged as a prominent tool for the government to interact and engage with citizens. It is also an effective channel for providing government services. However, for effective implementation and its success, it is critical to understand the citizens' perceptions towards the government's use of SM and its impact on mobile government (MG) adoption. Consequently, the study focuses on assessing the impact of SM influence and electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) on MG service parameters such as MG Awareness, MG Transparency, and MG Trust. The results of structural equation modelling revealed the significance of e-WOM on improving MG awareness and trust and SM Influence. Further, SM Influence had a direct impact only on MG Transparency. However, results revealed the importance of SM Influence and MG Transparency as a mediator for MG Trust. Besides, gender and age as moderators are investigated and discussed in detail.
The use of a secure and robust digital identification system that is capable of protecting privacy is an essential, reliable and user-friendly element for a strong cyber resilience strategy and is a source of new business opportunities and applications for banks, private sector with a return on their investment.
The march towards Digital Identity is well underway therefore, focus should be on both adoption and adaption of the new structures and regulations. These are needed to govern the associated services and transactions as well as establishing laws that enforce penalties for violations.
There is no doubt then that more and more entities and institutions would move to the cloud. Security challenges affecting the cloud may not be new but the mode of addressing them would be different. The authors develop a Data Colouring technique for securing data processed or stored on both cloud and non-cloud platforms. The technique combines Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), concatenated fingerprints and digital watermarking. Using this technique, data can be secured at creation or during storage and remains secure during processing.
Governments in countries with the constructive vote of no-confidence (CVNC) tend to be more durable than governments in countries with a regular vote of no-confidence (RVNC). Although this is the common claim in the limited literature that exists about the CVNC, no comprehensive study and no empirical tests have been conducted to date. We begin to fill this lacuna. Using a two-stage analysis including a Multivariate Cox proportional Hazard Model, we find that the type of no-confidence vote affects the government’s term of office, so that in countries with a CVNC, governments in general, and post-election governments in particular, last longer in office than governments in RVNC countries.
Recruiting the cumulative advantage mechanism, this study explores how earnings inequality between dominant and minority groups in the same society unfolds over the life course. Jews and Palestinian Israeli Arabs in Israel’s economy provide the context for this study. We find that the earnings gap between the groups has widened over time, particularly among men. This trend is hardly mediated by education, since returns to education have increased at similar rates for both. This finding leaves discrimination a plausible explanation, as the net group membership effect is positive and growing in strength with time. Among women, by contrast, the entire earnings gap is explained by self-selection out of employment, particularly among the less-educated. The consequences of these findings for changes in earnings inequality between dominant and minority groups in divided societies are discussed.
This study examines the rally round the flag effect during Operation Protective Edge, a war between Israel and Palestinians. Research has demonstrated the mechanisms by which military crises escalate, and the public perceives the threat, which in turn leads to support for government leadership. Forming the basis of this theory is Social Identity Theory; however, in the context of international relations, there seems to be little research that examines the mechanism from which Social Identity Theory causes the rally to affect the minority group. This is probably because, in inter-state and inter-ethnic conflicts, there have been few opportunities to access research information on situations where there is a part of a hostile nation or ethnic group within one state. Public opinion polls were conducted repeatedly during Operation Protective Edge, and Arab Israelis were included in the target population for this poll. Subsequently, the mechanisms that determined the attitudes of Arab Israelis during this Israeli-Palestinian military conflict can be determined. This study adjusted for covariates by using an Interrupted Time-Series analysis to infer causality of the ground war rush on the rally effect.
Political trust is a fundamental bedrock for a political system to work. The “trust-as-evaluation” approach has identified an individual’s perceived evaluation of economic performance and income inequality as critical determinants of political trust. Another stream of research has argued that macro-level factors, measured by macroeconomic indicators or GINI index, are correlated with political trust. To date, only a few empirical studies have questioned how macro-level performance interacts with those at the micro-level, namely, individuals’ subjective evaluations. Existing empirical studies mainly focus on Europe with little attention to Asia. To fill a gap in the literature, we extend the “trust-as-evaluation approach” to the Asian context, employing a multilevel analysis using the Asian Barometer Survey’s fourth wave. This study identifies that: (i) an individual’s perception of their economic well-being or inequality is the critical determinant of political trust; (ii) macro-level economic performance has an unclear and mixed effect on political trust; and (iii) instead, macro-level income inequality functions as a moderator between the relationship between perceived income inequality and political trust.
This study examined the interactive effect of ethnicity and e-government use on trust in government and of ethnicity and trust in government on e-government use by means of social inequality approaches outlined in Internet sociology studies. The data for the study was obtained from the 2017 Israel Social Survey. It was found that Arabs from small localities with varying levels of trust in government are less likely to use e-government than Israeli Jews with the same levels of trust. Yet they are more likely than Israeli Jews to have some degree of trust in government. Arabs from large localities differ from Israeli Jews in terms of e-government use only when they have some degree of trust in government. However, they do not differ from Israeli Jews regarding the trust itself. The results provide support for the social stratification approach and a justification for treating disadvantaged minorities according to the size of their residential localities.
Political trust is essential for a democratic regime to work, and a declining asset in Western countries. It has been confirmed theoretically and empirically that news media are an important source of influence on political trust, though literature have not considered social media, in which the circulation of false or misleading information, and propaganda, might have a negative effect on political trust, to be relevant channels of news consumption. In order to explore the effect of social media on political trust in comparison with that of traditional media, an ANOVA test and hierarchical multiple linear regression models were run on a three-wave panel survey, during the presidential elections of 2018 (N = 701) in Mexico. The findings indicate that the election campaign had a positive effect on institutional trust, growing as the campaign developed, and that there was a positive influence from social media, followed by television.
Despite the significant amounts of public investment devoted to enhancing e-government over the last ten years, citizens’ use of this service is still limited, posing a challenge to national governments. By analysing panel data derived from 27 European countries for the period 2010 to 2018, our work confirms that citizens’ use of e-government services is influenced by supply-side e-government evaluations, citizens’ trust in governments and the digital divide associated to income and education. Moreover, a longitudinal cluster analysis allows us to identify patterns of behaviour between the countries as regards the way those variables interact with the use of e-government services over time. Relevant practical implications derive from the research that can guide public policy in the area of e-government.
Although the Internet has had a profound influence on China’s economy and society, the empirical research pertaining to political consequences of the Internet is highly sparse. This paper investigates empirically the potential relationship between Internet use and trust in government of Chinese netizens. We find robust evidence of a significant positive effect of Internet use on trust in government of netizens in China. The beneficial impact of Internet use on trust in government is found to be heterogeneous across genders and age groups. We also find that the source of information plays a role in explaining Chinese netizens’ attitudes toward their governments. In addition, we find that the key mechanisms through which Internet use affects trust in government are the changes in netizens’ appraisal of government performance, deference to government authority and internal efficacy.
Government interventions and economic activities could have significant impacts on the economies of countries. Effective governance and quality institutions are required for sustainable economic growth in both developed and developing countries. The primary objective of this study was to analyse the impact of government activities on economic growth in Poland. The study followed a quantitative research approach, employing time series data from 1995 to 2017 including GDP as the dependent variable with variables such as government spending and debt, size and effectiveness of government, and the level of corruption as independent variables. The relationships between the variables were analysed by making use of an Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) econometric model. The results indicated that there are both long- and short-run relationships between the variables. Other results indicated that government variables included in the study, caused changes in economic growth as assessed via a Granger causality analysis. A number of recommendations were listed which include inter alia, that effective government spending and management have a positive impact on the economy, while efforts to limit the levels of corruption also contributes to economic improvements in a country.
When the past is contested by political actors, it can play a notable role both in present and in future politics. This is especially true when it comes to the memory of dominant parties, which are part and parcel of political and national history. Focusing on dominant parties in parliamentary democracies, this article examines the memory dynamics of a dominant party after its demise and highlights the importance of memory modes in understanding these dynamics. Using theories of collective memory, it identifies four possible modes of memory in a post-dominance era, suggesting discursive and power-related indications for each mode. The article then utilizes this framework to examine the memory of Mapai, the once-dominant party in Israel. On the basis of this analysis, the authors propose hypotheses concerning the comparative cases of Sweden, Italy, and Japan.
The issue of e-government use is critical in deeply divided societies where the access to social capital is restricted for minorities. E-government use in these societies may differ by ethnic background, size of locality or both. Israel was chosen as a case since it is an example of a deeply divided society. Using data from the Israel’s Social Survey 2015, it was found that the disadvantaged minority has a lower probability of using e-government as compared to other groups. However, when segmenting this population by size of its localities, the stratification structure differs between large and small localities. The conclusion is that the inequality approaches should consider not only the ethnicity but also the size of locality as a factor differentiating between ethnic groups in terms of the specific Internet use.
Political trust has become a central focus of political analysis and public lament. Political theorists and philosophers typically think of interpersonal trust in politics as a fragile but valuable resource for a flourishing or stable democratic polity. This article examines what conception of trust is needed in order to play this role. It unpicks two candidate answers, a moral and a responsiveness conception, the latter of which has been central to recent political theory in this area. It goes on to outline a third, commitment conception and to set out how a focus on commitments and their fulfilment provides a better account of trust for political purposes. Adopting this conception discloses how trust relies on a contestable public normative space and has significant implications for how we should approach three cognate topics, namely, judgments of trust, the place of distrust, and the relationship of interpersonal to institutional trust and distrust.
This study organizes existing research on the public value of e-government in order to investigate the current state and what value e-government is supposed to yield. The two questions that guided the research were: (1) What is the current state of research on the public value of e-government? And (2) What value is e-government supposed to yield? Six, sometimes overlapping, values were found: Improved public services; improved administrative efficiency; Open Government (OG) capabilities; improved ethical behaviour and professionalism; improved trust and confidence in government; and improved social value and well-being. These six public value dimensions were thereafter generalized into three overarching, and also overlapping, public value dimensions of Improved Public Services, Improved Administration, and Improved Social Value. The improved public services dimension influences other dimensions. Hence, this literature study theorizes a descriptive and multidimensional framework that can improve our understanding of the public value of e-government from different viewpoints, and the overlap between them in actual e-government designs and implementations. Regarding the current state of research on the public value this study found a lack of research on the public value of e-government, especially, in the context of developing countries – and more importantly – a total absence of this kind of research in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). There is also a lack of comparative studies at national, regional, and project level; and a lack of research on the generative perspective.
The primary purpose of this study was to examine the role of good governance practices on public trust in local government. In this study, a conceptual model was developed and tested empirically in Ethiopia by selecting Bahir Dar City Administration. The data analyses yielded the following results. All independent variables were highly influential in describing the public’s level of trust in their local government. In this case, participants who perceived the existence of transparency, accountability, and responsiveness had greater trust in the City Administration than their counterparts.
Students are expected to obtain a matriculation diploma during their high school years. Throughout the world, it is considered as a precondition to gaining access to higher education. However, those who failed to meet this criterion can employ, in some cases, “second-chance” alternatives—either to obtain a diploma at an older age, or to enter specific academic programs that do not require one. The literature on second-chance alternatives tends to concentrate on these programs’ evaluation. It rarely addresses the overall effect of these programs on inequality of educational opportunities (IEO). The current study focuses on Israelis who failed to gain a matriculation diploma at their high school graduation and contemplate on the effects that ethnic differences between them play on their chances to enter higher education. Based on a new Panel survey (2012–2016), we found that Israelis from affluent ethnic backgrounds were able to increase their chances to access higher education using “second-chance alternatives”. Those from minority groups, most notably Arabs, were less likely to benefit from these alternatives. While originally aimed at improving higher education enrolment for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, these “second-chance alternatives” resulted in an increase of ethnic-based IEO. Considering the lower rates of Israelis who utilise them, we deduct that these programs “failed” to accomplish their original purpose. However, we argue that they merit further research since their understanding can benefit researchers and policy makers.
This study applies the negative peace/positive peace approach to internal nation-state relations between the majority and ethnic minority. This approach focuses on the policies implemented by the state. In order to understand the social system from its formation, an important focus should be given to the period of establishment of a new state, whereas physical borders are defined along with the borders of society, which determines who is included in the new nation and who is excluded. The conclusions are based on the case of the Israeli Druze, an ethnic minority with whom the state of Israel and its Jewish majority have achieved positive peace. This study suggests that the positive peace with the Druze was achieved following their integration in the army—as a decision of the state of Israel—that lead to their integration in the Israeli society. Conversely to the Israeli Muslims, where a negative peace is maintained, following the early year’s state policy to exclude them.
The current study introduces a new mismatch concept in labor studies, the mismatch between subjective work perceptions and actual labor market position, and examines it from the perspectives of gender, ethnic and migration. This mismatch, positive or negative, was examined among men and women from different ethnic groups in Israel, both immigrants and native-born. The analyses were conducted on 9,923 employees using the Israeli CBS Social Surveys (2013–2015). The results reveal that the gender effect is more prominent than the ethnicity and migration effect. In general, women were more satisfied with their actual position in the labor market (positive subjective mismatch) than men, and men were less satisfied with their actual position in the labor market (negative subjective mismatch) than women. A positive subjective mismatch was also found among men from disadvantaged ethnic and immigrant groups. The multivariate analyses revealed that after controlling for socio-economic variables, ethnic differences declined among both men and women. Possible explanations are discussed, primarily based on the notion of relative well-being in respect to workers' expectations.
The current research was carried out to investigate the correlation of two organizational resources and two organizational capabilities with political performance. This quantitative study was conducted on 128 U.S. elected politicians. Data were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire, consisting of three sections: Demographic information, resources and capabilities, and questions about politicians' performance. Using a correlation analysis, the study found that possessing sufficient experiential and physical resources and innovative and adaptive capabilities are statistically significant in achieving superior political performance. Although the results were weak correlations and had little relationship to effectiveness, several implications can be drawn from the study's findings for elected politicians, political candidates, and political parties and interesting directions for future research are provided.
Numerous studies address the uses and perceived effects of social media, but a scholarly void exists about how it is framed in the mainstream media. This study fills this void using a content analysis of news items that included references to social media in Israel’s six daily Hebrew-language printed newspapers during the Israel–Gaza war (2014). The papers framed social media primarily as spaces of hate speech and distribution of rumors. Additional salient themes referred to social media as alternative media channels by politicians and celebrities and as arenas of public diplomacy. Social media was rarely portrayed as platforms to orchestrate collective action or to meet the enemy.
In this article, we assess the explanatory power of two contrasting theories about the sources of political trust. Using a unique survey of expatriated Swedes together with two cross-country surveys, we investigate how a move from a context of high institutional quality to countries characterized by low institutional quality affects peoples’ institutional trust and satisfaction with democracy. Our analyses show that Swedes living in countries with low levels of institutional quality display significantly lower levels of political trust and support compared to the native population, demonstrating that experience of institutional quality is more important than socialization and culture. However, long-time exposure to, and socialization into, a new cultural and institutional setting triggers something like a process of resocialization, in which the difference in satisfaction and trust decreases over time. The results are robust to a wide array of specifications and statistical techniques.
Using data from a large-scale Annual Social Survey of Israel's CBS, the current paper discusses the concept of digital capital as an all-sufficient resource beyond the four capital types enumerated by Bourdieu. This study examines the digital divide as reflected in differences in digital capital between the veteran Jewish majority and two ethnic minorities -Israeli Arabs and immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) - in Israeli society and characterizes the connection between digital divide and social stratification. Digital capital was found to be an important resource that contributes to individuals' income and occupational prestige, beyond the classic socio-demographic factors. After controlling for digital capital variables (where background variables, cultural capital and labor market variables are the same) the income gaps between veteran Jews and Israeli Arabs closed. Digital capital may serve as a mobility channel for the Arab minority to attain social and economic equality with the Jewish majority.
We use original survey data from Malaysia to explore differences in how traditional and digital media shape the attitudes and behavior of citizens. In closed, and even semi-authoritarian, states such as Malaysia, the Internet, including social media, is often the only place for opposition-centered media to thrive. As a result, consumption of Internet media is related to dissident attitudes. We argue that this relationship, though, is mitigated by trust in the medium. Our results suggest: (1) trust in traditional and Internet media determines the frequency with which citizens use each corresponding medium to gather political information, (2) higher trust in traditional media is positively associated with attitudes about democratic conditions in Malaysia; the opposite is true for trust in Internet media, (3) trust in the traditional media is negatively related, and trust in Internet media is positively related to the inclination to protest, (4) the positive relationship between digital media consumption and this attitude is stronger for those who trust Internet media, and diminished among those who trust traditional media.
The current debate about declining media trust is related not only to the disruptive changes in the media but also to the general decline of trust in institutions and politicians. This article combines the perspectives of media trust and political trust, by examining to what degree voters perceive politicians as “honest” in the contexts of various media and communication forms. Comparing the voters’ evaluation of politicians’ trustworthiness in talk shows, news interviews, speeches, flyers, social media, and opinion pieces makes it possible to measure the impact of media contexts on the level of trust. A key finding is that voters deem politicians as more honest in social media and opinion pieces, compared to talk shows and news interviews. Second, voters tend to evaluate politicians as more honest in the media formats they most often consume; a finding that confirms the virtuous circl theory; young people typically found politicians to be more dishonest in mainstream media compared to social media A third finding is that the voters tend to evaluate populist politicians as more authentic than traditional politicians and that female politicians were regarded as more authentic compared to male politicians. These findings have implications both for journalistic ideals for coverage of politics in and for political strategic communication.
The article investigates the dimensions of life satisfaction of immigrant and ethnic minorities comparing them with the majority population. It constructs a theoretical framework, taking into account both pecuniary and non-pecuniary dimensions of welfare. This study is based on the data of the Social Survey, administered by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Immigrants in this study are regarded as a migrant minority and Israeli-born Arab citizens as an ethnic minority. The results reveal significant life satisfaction gaps between the groups, which can be partially explained by the value of work per se and the value of leisure activities. Applying the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, the study revealed that the gap in life satisfaction could be attributed both to the differences in pecuniary and non-pecuniary resources for each group, and to different returns on resources. Policy targeted on increasing the economic possibilities of minority groups would decrease the life satisfaction gaps.
In this article we empirically test stage models of e-government development. We use Lee's classification to make a distinction between four stages of e-government: informational, requests, personal, and e-democracy. We draw on a comprehensive data set on the adoption and development of e-government activities in 510 Dutch municipalities over the period 2004–2009. Our results show that progression through stages of e-government is mostly linear. However, it seems that a single dimension is insufficient to explain e-government development at the level of more specific features of e-government. Our analysis demonstrates that municipalities sometimes adopt certain e-government features at a later stage even if features of an earlier stage are not adopted at all. These findings suggest that municipalities can—at the level of e-government features—immediately proceed to later stages without having to pass through earlier stages. We conclude that stage models may have some value for benchmarking municipalities at the level of stages, but are inadequate in explaining or predicting the development of features at the different e-government stages.
Having its origin in public administration, trustworthiness is a significant concept in digital government research, influencing the relationships between citizens and governments. However, the interrelationships between the facets of trustworthiness are given inadequate attention. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a theory detailing the factors affecting citizens’ perceptions of e-government trustworthiness. A comprehensive review of public administration and information systems literature highlighted 20 pertinent variables. The interrelationships of these variables were identified and categorized according to their driving and dependence power by employing interpretive structural modelling. The proposed model was then drawn based on the level partitioning of variables and interrelationships of the variables determined using the final reachability matrix. The findings reveal that current conceptualizations of digital government trustworthiness take a too narrow view. The findings can help government policy makers with understanding the interrelated factors associated with trustworthiness in the context of digital government services and implement them in effective strategic planning.
Media malaise is one of the most popular and most controversial concepts in political communication research. At its core is the observation that citizens have become more cynical and distrustful of politicians and the political process as a whole and that political participation is on the decline. This is partly blamed on the news media's presentation of politics as a game or contest in which strategy becomes more important than substantial issues. Media malaise theory claims that such coverage results in widespread political cynicism that turns citizens off. This claim has been fiercely contested, with researchers stressing that media might well mobilize citizens politically or arguing that citizens might well become more cynical but not necessarily less engaged. Evidence is mounting to support both sides of the debate, which emphasizes the need to add further nuance and to spell out the exact conditions and processes behind such effects.
The rise of the new radical populist right has been linked to fundamental socioeconomic changes fueled by globalization and economic deregulation. Yet, socioeconomic factors can hardly fully explain the rise of new right. We suggest that emotional processes that affect people’s identities provide an additional explanation for the current popularity of the radical right, not only among low- and medium-skilled workers, but also among the middle classes whose insecurities manifest as fears of not being able to live up to salient social identities and their constitutive values, and as shame about this anticipated or actual inability. This link between fear and shame becomes particularly salient in competitive market societies where responsibility for success and failure is increasingly individualized. Failure implies stigmatization through unemployment, being on welfare benefits, or forced migration to find work. Under these conditions, many tend to emotionally distance themselves from social identities that inflict shame and other negative emotions, instead seeking meaning and self-esteem from those aspects of identity that are perceived to be stable and to some extent exclusive, such as nationality, ethnicity, religion, language, and traditional gender roles. At the same time, repressed shame can manifest as anger and resentment against immigrants, refugees, gays, and other minorities as well as liberal cultural elites who appear as enemies of these more stable social identities.
Concepts such as “porous boundaries” and “low thresholds” appear frequently in the literature on online political engagement. Social media, it is argued, are characterized by less distinct boundaries between non-political and political activities, thereby lowering thresholds into political engagement. This argument is analyzed and empirically tested. Relying on a five-wave panel study among Swedish adolescents, we provide unique insights into the levels and development of political engagement in online political information, interaction, production, and collective action. In sum, the findings show that, for a majority, social interaction in social media coincides with engagement in political information and interaction, while few are engaged in production and collective action. Second, the study provides limited support to the idea that low thresholds in social media promote patterns of tune-in, tune-out political engagement over time. Finally, social interaction in social media has clear effects on online political engagement beyond political socialization and motivation factors.
In addition to coping with intergenerational and spousal problems related to aging and/or immigration, elderly immigrants in Israel are also often burdened with domesticating information and communication technologies (ICTs). Thus, the goal of this study is to explore how relationships within the elderly immigrant’s family are manifested in a home computer context and to determine the roles that domestication of the relevant technologies plays in their family life. This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews with 26 elderly users who immigrated from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to Israel about 20 years ago. The findings show that ICT domestication and family dynamics are complex, interrelated processes: Technologies have dramatically changed the elderly immigrants’ family situations, yet immigrants have accorded these technologies unique meaning, adapting them to respond to their family needs and negotiating ICT domestication as a means of discussing and rebuilding family communication.
E-voting has the potential to lower participation thresholds and increase turnout, but its technical complexity may produce other barriers to participation. Using Rogers' theory of the diffusion of innovations, we examined how the use of e-voting has changed over time. Data from eight e-enabled elections between 2005 and 2015 in Estonia, were used to investigate changes to the profile of e-voters and contrast them to those voting by conventional means. Owing to the aggregate share of e-voters increasing with each election, with one third of voters now casting their vote remotely over the internet, there was a lack of conclusive evidence regarding whether the new voting technology had diffused homogenously among the voting population, or remained a channel for the resourceful and privileged. Our findings show that diffusion has taken place, but not until after the first three e-enabled elections. Thus, internet voting has the potential to be used by a wide range of voter types, bridge societal divisions, and emerge as an inclusive innovative voting technology.
Cross-border migration has increased rapidly in recent decades. In response, most democracies have extended voting rights to their citizens abroad. Nevertheless, expatriate voter turnout tends to be low. This article investigates a frequently proposed remedy—internet voting—based on a case study of extended internet voting trials in eight Swiss cantons. For causal identification, I exploit an unexpected federal intervention that led to a temporary suspension of internet voting in four of the eight cantons, during which expatriates could vote only by mail. Using difference-in-differences estimation, I find that the temporary suspension of internet voting decreased turnout among registered expatriate voters by 4.1 to 6.4 percentage points. Placebo tests suggest that pre- and post-suspension trends in expatriate voter turnout were close to identical in treated and control cases. Overall, the results of this study suggest that internet voting represents an effective method to increase electoral participation among citizens abroad. Still, expatriate voter turnout remained well-below domestic turnout even with internet voting available, suggesting that high voting costs are not the only reason why citizens abroad tend to vote at lower rates.
Digital platforms have emerged as a new technical and organizational element capable of changing the dynamics of consolidated socioeconomic models. We seek to understand how non-institutional initiatives on digital platforms affect the perspectives of democracy. To reach our goal we employed an empirical exploratory case study of Brazil. We present two non-institutional initiatives developed indigenously – “Nosso Mandato” and “Poder do Voto”. We handled in-depth interviews, conducted participant observation, and subsequently supplemented the analysis with secondary materials. Our investigation demonstrates those two non-institutional platforms target Brazilian democratic deficit and in some way they both aim at transforming the country's politics by creating new mechanisms for political participation and by fostering a change in the political culture. More specifically, they reinforce trends of direct digital democracy, truth-based advocacy and constituent mobilization. On the other hand, both platforms are still struggling to leverage network externalities to their advantage – and the barriers are both economic (financial and organizational) and political. They represent a movement that believes it can change politics by creating new spaces for social mobilization via technology, even if built on the digital services of a global oligopoly. We found initial evidence that points to two important points in the relationship between digital platforms and democracy: (i) specific digital platforms for political participation face greater difficulty in scaling up the number of users than general purpose social networks; (ii) the most successful initiatives in terms of non-institutional digital platforms for political participation are based on, and thus strengthen, the Big Five global oligopoly.
Social media have expanded citizens' political repertoires with new modes of action. To measure these changing political practices, a new instrument, called the Social Media Political Participation Scale was developed and psychometrically tested. The instrument aims to capture both active, expressive forms of political action through social media as well as cognitive political social media use (e.g., sharing posts versus information seeking and acquiring). Based on a literature review and the recommendations of an expert panel, an item pool was generated. The second phase consisted of a questionnaire completed by 595 teenagers. The construct validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), as well as convergent validity and internal consistency. The analyses revealed four theoretically grounded constructs measured with 21 items: latent engagement, follower engagement, expressive engagement and counter engagement. As a validated instrument , the Social Media Political Participation Scale allows future research to gain a more profound insight into who is politically engaged and why, as well as how digital technologies are embedded in diverse forms of political action.
This article explores the divisive nature of social media public culture in which impromptu communities of strangers affirm or antagonize one another in non-face-to-face interactions through memes, hashtags, and other posts. Drawing upon the work of Michael Herzfeld, specifically his notion of cultural intimacy and social poetics, this article analyzes contemporary politicized social media to demonstrate what I call social media poetics, briefly, public online shaming through which antagonists criticize one another and, in so doing, create their own identities; this process relies upon essentializing communities of posters that quickly become polarized. During social media acts of “creative shame,” people “become” their posts, making social media a vehicle for perpetuating both community and disunity based on social identities affirmed or antagonized when somehow “embodied” in the posts.
Job autonomy – employees’ freedom to schedule and organise their work independently according to their own experience and preferences – is a major factor in job satisfaction. However, it is not granted to many employees in Israel, and the authors of this article were interested in the reasons for this. Based on data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), they investigated the association between cognitive skills and job autonomy among Israeli-born Jews, Arabs and immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) living in Israel. They considered PIAAC data for cognitive skills in three key domains: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. In line with social homophily theory (which explains bonding tendencies among socially similar people), the authors’ findings show different effects of cognitive skills on job autonomy between the three groups. Whereas cognitive skills were positively correlated with job autonomy among Israeli-born Jews and partially among Arabs, these effects were insignificant among FSU immigrants. The findings suggest that in the case of FSU immigrants, a latent form of discrimination is taking place: they are not being rewarded for their credentials and skills with job autonomy. Revealing the discrimination mechanisms affecting job autonomy among ethnic minorities in Israel may help policymakers to overcome ethnic-based inequality and alienation in the labour market. It may also assist the development of new approaches that tap into skills currently being ignored and thereby increase employees’ well-being.
This study evaluates the impacts of Internet use on political trust in China. Negative effects are consistently found across variant measures of political trust. IV and PSM estimations confirm that the negative impact is causal. Further, placebo tests show that the traditional media as the primary information source hasn’t generated such effects and trust in friends hasn’t been impacted by Internet use. This effect is most likely attributable to the fact that internet use in China exacerbates public perception toward government and government officials, increases public demand for political participation, and raises the expectation of government performance.
The decline of political trust is often linked to the rise of the Internet. This paper took the perspective of media ecology to explore the Internet's impacts on political trust. The data of the World Values Survey were used for multilevel analyses with 51, 960 respondents in 36 countries. It reported several paradoxical and counter-intuitive results. Instead of being weakened, political trust is strengthened in the new informational context that is created by the Internet infrastructure. For the Internet censorship, political trust is strengthened by the Internet blockage but weakened by the violation of user rights. For the Internet participation, political trust is strengthened by e-information and e-consultation but weakened by e-decision-making.
This study looked at the relationship between good governance and trust in government. We used data on government trust across a sample of 29 European countries over the period 2004–2015, as well as six different aspects of governance as captured by the Worldwide Governance Indicators. We also consider GDP growth and income inequality and their correlation with trust in government. The results showed that voice and accountability, which captures freedom of expression and citizen involvement in the democratic process, was significantly related to government trust, across all specifications of our regression models. None of the other indicators yields significant results, although the coefficient for control of corruption is significant in some specifications. We also found that real GDP growth rates have a significant relationship with trust in government. A comparison of the standardised regression coefficients indicated that voice and accountability is a stronger correlate of trust in government than GDP growth. Therefore, our results suggested that good governance was a key determinant of trust in government, over and above economic considerations. We discussed the implications of these findings in light of declining levels of public trust in government around the world. © 2018 by Emerald Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
p>In social science, we typically work with measures that are laden with errors. Theories are generally couched in terms of constructs or phenomena that are unobserved or unobservable but nevertheless have empirical implications. It is these unobservable indicators that we actually analyze. Hence, an important preliminary task for an analyst is to specify the assumed relationship of observable indicators to the underlying phenomenon that is to be measured. Better still, one can test hypotheses about these relations. The focus of this volume is on cross-cultural methods; this brings with it further complexities for deriving adequate social measurement in that we cannot expect to necessarily see the same empirical patterns of observations across cultures (for instance, on a set of related questionnaire items measuring a single attitude) even where the underlying phenomenon is in fact the same. Absent some resolution of this problem, comparisons of the true differences in, say, attitudes or beliefs across cultures are problematic because of the conflation of such differences as may exist with differences in the ways in which the observable indictors “behave” across the very same cultural boundaries.</p
This article reviews recent survey-based research on citizens’ trust in government, focusing particularly on the United States. It addresses the long-term decline in trust and potential causes for this decline, with an emphasis on the effects of partisanship, polarization, performance, process, and media priming. While dispositions can anchor trust levels, the dominant research findings show that the sources of variation and change in trust are political, if multifaceted, in nature. We discuss new versions of standard measures, call for a renewed look at the distinction between trust in authorities and trust in the regime, review ongoing work on how and why trust matters, and recommend broadening the foci of mistrust to include antiestablishment sentiments and attacks on electoral integrity. How trust intervenes between perceptions of political processes and compliance with authoritative commands is a critical domain for additional research. We conclude with a caveat against confidence that the decline in trust can be quickly or easily reversed. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science Volume 21 is May 11, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Europeans’ confidence in political institutions has dropped precipitously since the onset of the Euro-crisis in 2009. The decline in trust in government varies across countries and occupational and educational groups. Economic factors explain much of the cross-national and over-time variation. The baseline level of trust is influenced by a person’s position in the labor market: across European countries, citizens with more education and higher levels of skills trust government more than those educational and occupational groups that have benefited less from European integration. Residents of debtor countries with high unemployment rates are also much less likely to trust national government than those in creditor countries that have fared better during the economic crisis, while the unemployed have lost faith in government to a greater degree than other parts of the population. Cultural, ideational, and political factors remain important for baseline levels of trust, but cannot explain the acute, asymmetrical decline in citizen trust observed over the last decade.
Theories about the decline of legitimacy or a legitimacy crisis are as old as democracy itself. Yet, representative democracy still exists, and the empirical evidence for a secular decline of political support in established democracies is limited, questionable, or absent. This lack of conclusive evidence calls into question existing explanatory theories of legitimacy decline. How valid are theories of modernization, globalization, media malaise, social capital, and party decline, if the predicted outcome (i.e. secular decline of political support) does not occur? And which (new) explanations can account for the empirical variation in political support in established democracies?
This book systematically evaluates the empirical evidence for legitimacy decline in established democracies, the explanatory power of theories of legitimacy decline, and promises new routes in investigating and assessing political legitimacy. In doing so, the book provides a broad and thorough reflection on the state of the art of legitimacy research, and outlines a new research agenda on legitimacy.
